Page:The first report, etc., of the Lichfield Society.djvu/17

Rh the one Catholic Church, which has thus weathered the storm of so many generations. What a thought it is that possibly ancient Britons, Saxons, Danes, the conquering Normans, and succeeding generations, have all worshipped God not only in the same spot, but almost, so to say, in the same building! While the place of Druid worship is deserted, while the Roman villa or temple, the Saxon dwelling, the Norman castle are all dismantled; there still stand our parish churches, with their sacred font and altar, bearing on them indeed evidences of the various revolutions through which the country has passed—yet still maintaining their ground, and destined, as we doubt not, to maintain it to the end of time.

At the same time there are many objects in our churches which call up less encouraging thoughts. They bear, I fear, no satisfactory witness with regard to the taste, the charity, and piety of the present age. It is a fact which we cannot deny that the best Ecclesiastical structures, which grace our land, from the lofty cathedral to the humble parish church—are almost entirely the work of ages which, in comparison with our own, we are wont to hold in light esteem; ages when there were no steam engines, no railroads, comparatively little wealth, and few of the arts which conduce to modern refinement; and yet those ages had the taste to plan, the perseverance to execute, and the piety to use, those beautiful structures—which we can scarcely imitate, much less rival by any invention of our own. Surely those ages could not be so dark and barbarous as some suppose; the spark of religion could not be utterly extinct. Make all the allowance which you please for the impulse of superstition—and I admit much superstition existed—still it is evident that there was a spirit abroad in those ages which we have lost, and it were well if we could by any means restore. And that spirit, I believe, was the spirit of Reverence. We want reverence. And possibly we may not be taking a bad way to revive it by the study of Ecclesiastical Architecture.

It is, however, very important to observe that this want of reverence is not attributable to our Reformed Church. The Church, indeed, commanded the removal of images which had become objects of unholy worship; and other things which had been employed for uses of superstition or imposture, and many such there were; but it no where authorized a sacrilegious rabble to break down, with axes and hammers, the carved work, and rich ornaments of her consecrated buildings. It was not the Church that sent forth the notorious William Dowsing, whose name deserves to be had in remembrance, in the annals of